[64.03] Scientific Potential of Solar VLBI Using Remote SRTs

M.L. Cobb (Southeast Missouri State University)

The Small Radio Telescope (SRT) kit, developed by Haystack
Observatory of MIT, has been established at over 50 sites
primarily within the continental US. The SRT was designed as
a radio astronomy educational aid and can make useful
observations of the 21 cm line of Hydrogen as well as
continuum measurements of bright sources including the Sun
and bright HII regions. This poster explores the scientific
potential of using the Small Radio Telescope (SRT) kit as
individual stations in a packet based VLBI network to
provide high resolution images of the Sun.

There are few instruments available to help educate students
in radio astronomy techniques at the undergraduate level.
The current version of the SRT demonstrates single dish
measurements of continuum and 21 cm HI lines. Many SRT users
have expressed an interest in having a system that can
demonstrate interferometric measurement techniques. Haystack
Observatory has reported detecting fringes on the Sun
obtained by combining the RF signals of two SRT telescopes.
While building a connected element array would be possible
using this technique the diverse locale of the SRT sites
suggests VLBI like processing may allow many of the sites to
combine their data streams to form images.

If a precise enough timing process could be developed, then
individual telescopes could time stamp their data and share
data packets with other observers. Users participate in the
process by allowing their data to be used by others. Similar
to sharing MP3 files, users could assemble packets from
other telescopes and form images from the correlated data
sets.

We explore the infrastructure needed for such a data base
and simulate what kinds of images of the Sun such a system
might produce.